Thought I’d start the week off by sharing some delight with y’all.
I bought a printer earlier a couple of months ago and, wow, I’m OBSESSED. There’s so much you can do with a printer! Like, I thought I knew, but I had no idea. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this voice note. I could talk about my printer all day. (It’s a HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e.)
About a decade ago, I sat in Sarah Schulman’s living room going over early drafts of what eventually became my memoir. Her insight was blunt, productive and peerless. She was the first person to read multiple chapters/drafts of the book and I will always be grateful for her mentorship.
At some point, she asked me if I had printer and I casually said that didn’t have one and didn’t want one. She was aghast. Sarah, I’VE FINALLY SEEN THE LIGHT.
Printers are incredibly useful — to writers and readers alike. Friends, listen to me: if you can afford to buy yourself a printer, do it. If you need to GRIFT yourself a printer, I understand. If you want to support an emerging writer in your life, a printer is a great gift idea, in my excellent opinion.
Here’s the essay by Michael R. Jackson I mention in my voice note. I keep returning to this sentence: “It was very important to me to figure out how to represent the experience of Black characters living, breathing, dreaming, coming into conflict with others, and making mistakes with consequences that did not necessarily racially degrade or kill them.”
And the poem “Suits” by John Keene appears in his wonderful book PUNKS: New and Selected Poems. After thinking about it for two days in a row, I decided to make a little collage for it so the poem can live with me in a vivid way.
Sarah Schulman Asked Me If I Had A Printer